Why Rowdy Rathore scores over Bodyguard, Wanted, Singham!

Despite gaping loopholes and lack of logic, Rowdy Rathore nails the south-Indian remake formula much better than its blockbuster predecessors. Here's why Rowdy Rathore is not just another 'masala' joke.

1. Not Spoofy

Save for Ghajini and to a certain extent Dabangg, most recent potboilers have been executed like glorified spoofs. So while the masses have enjoyed the campiness, the multiplex crowds lapped them up as unintentional comedies, which provided LOL moments when watched in a huge group. In Rowdy Rathore, the action and drama never turn into an exaggerated gag or a wannabe Rajinikanth joke. Though as cheesy as a BMovie can get, the emotion behind the revenge as well as the slapstick comedy work rather well. This film does not take itself too seriously, but does not ridicule itself either.

2. Music

This film has a paisa-vasool score that is designed to provide periodic relief from all the violence and melodrama. Cleverly placed in the plot, the picturisation is also Desi and true to the setting of the film. No salsa or sufi…This is about good old pelvic-thrusts.

3. Deceitful Villains

My biggest problem with all remakes so far has been the villains. Usually played by Prakash Raj or Mahesh Manjrekar, the negative characters have provided comic relief, instead of making me hate them. In this film, the bad guys are thankfully just plain evil, right from the word go. So even if it means enduring some really distasteful sequences, the scenes provide justification for the gory finale. Unlike a Singham, where the villain actually stole a march over the hero in the climax, with his funny one-liners, here the bad guys rarely behave like cartoons.

4. Raw Action

Rowdy Rathore has a decent amount of gore, ranging from heads being smashed to mouths being stabbed and necks being hung off pulleys. All this is coupled with serious dhishoom-dhishoom of the flesh and blood kind…Rather than the outlandish, gravity-defying stunts that one 'laughed at' in Bodyguard, Singham and even Wanted to a certain extent.

5. Akshay Kumar

He may not have got Salman Khan's lines…But that's the whole point. Akshay Kumar’s action avatar is not about style and swagger. When Kumar punches, he creates the impact of a thousand Lovely Singhs and hundred Baajiraos. Like the pre-Hera Pheri Akshay flicks, this film has less talk and more action. Testing the limits of even the finest of amplifiers, his power packed fight sequences are truly a 440 volt ka jhatka. In the goofy portions he is reliably funny, but this movie is about the return of the no-nonsense, hard-core action hero. The one who can comfortably fight, even with his shirt on!